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March 22, 2018 News

Syria’s Kids Are Still Being Killed at School

Amid Ongoing Bombings, More Protection Needed for Education

In areas of Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Syria’s capital Damascus held by anti-government armed groups, schools have closed for fear that Syrian and Russian warplanes will bomb them. Instead, local residents have opened informal schools…

Children walk through the rubble of the Tamayuz (“Excellence”) kindergarten in the town of Hamouriyeh after it was hit by a Syrian-Russian airstrike on November 8, 2017. © 2017 Private

April 12, 2017 News

Incendiary Weapons Burn Again in Syria

Recent Attacks on Saraqeb Caught on Video

Videos and photographs taken last weekend in the city of Saraqeb, in northwestern Syria, show the unmistakably bright trails produced by incendiary weapons. The ZAB incendiary submunitions used in the attacks are delivered by RBK-500 bombs and contain…

Screenshot of a video taken in April 2017 in Saraqeb, northwestern Syria, showing the bright trails produced by incendiary weapons.

March 24, 2017 News

Why Tillerson’s “Interim Zone of Stability” in Syria Is a Half-Baked Idea

Providing a Safe Haven Inside Syria Would Be Complicated, Costly and Probably Dangerous

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said this week the United States "will work to establish interim zones of stability [in Syria], through ceasefires, to allow refugees to return home." Although the Pentagon said…

Khirmash displaced persons camp in Syria on Turkey’s border, sheltering about 2,000 people as of mid-April 2016.

November 1, 2016 News

All of Aleppo is Aching

Horrors in Syria’s Besieged Eastern Aleppo Continue, But Civilians in the West Under Fire Too

The small child cries hysterically on the hospital bed, covered in dust and blood. The video, posted by the pro-Syrian government news agency al-Akhbariya, shows scene after scene of civilian men, women, and children injured from what they say were…

MENA Syria Aleppo old city destruction October 2016

September 16, 2016 News

Syria Truce Brings Calm, But No Aid

Despite Promises, Syrian Officials Withhold Permits

Convoys filled with lifesaving aid stand idle on the Syria-Turkish border. The Syrian government has failed to issue permits to the United Nations to access and distribute aid to opposition-held Aleppo. The UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland also blamed…

Commercial Turkish trucks wait to cross to Syria near the Cilvegozu border gate, located opposite the Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa in Reyhanli, Hatay province, Turkey, September 16, 2016.

June 21, 2016 News

Dispatches: Incendiary Weapons Pose Civilian Threat in Syria

Video Footage Shows Incendiary Weapons Mounted on Russian Attack Aircraft

Several major media outlets are reporting that Russia’s state-run television has broadcasted footage appearing to show Russian aircraft at its airbase in Syria equipped with “cluster bombs.” The clip was deleted from YouTube after analysts published the…

Footage showing what Human Rights Watch arms experts have identified as RBK-500 ZAB-2.5SM incendiary bombs mounted on a Russian attack aircraft at a Russian air base in Syria, June 18, 2016.

May 27, 2016 News

Dispatches: ISIS Advance Traps 165,000 Syrians at Closed Turkish Border

There are two walls on the Turkey-Syria border. One is manned by Turkish border guards enforcing Turkey’s 15 month-old border closure who, according to witnesses, have at times shot at and assaulted Syrian asylum seekers as…

At Tal Abyad –Akçakale border crossing, in June 2015, Turkish border guards manning Turkey’s closed border watched ISIS fighters order displaced Syrian civilians back from the border.

April 18, 2016 News

Dispatches: ISIS Knocks on the Door of Turkey’s “Safe Zone”

Things are bad when Syrian government barrel bombs rain down on your home and force you to flee to a displaced persons camp. Things are really bad when ISIS comes to your camp and orders you to leave. But when Turkish border troops – working with the…

October 1, 2015 News

Dispatches: Britain Backtracks on Justice for Yemen

The British government’s concern for the safety and well-being of the Yemeni people – already extremely feeble – reached a new low this week. In Geneva, Britain failed to actively promote a Dutch resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that…

Damaged buildings in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, May 8, 2015.

July 10, 2015 News

Dispatches: There is a War in Syria, Mr Brokenshire

The faces and life stories of the people making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean have been in the news for months now. Of all people, the UK’s immigration minister should be well informed on the subject. And yet…

February 10, 2015 News

Dispatches: Barrel Bombs Are No Laughing Matter, President Assad

It speaks volumes when the leader of a country feels emboldened to respond with humor when asked on television about a deadly weapon that is responsible for the deaths and maiming of thousands of his citizens. In a BBC interview broadcasted…

June 20, 2014 News

Dispatches: White Phosphorus, White Lies, or What?

Last week Russian state media gave big play to allegations that Ukrainian forces had used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon in eastern Ukraine. In the midst of it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged an investigation into the use of…

August 30, 2013 News

Dispatches: Death From Above - Incendiary Bombs in Syria

It is the end of the school day, teenage students gather in the playground before heading home. An aircraft buzzes overhead. A second later, chaos – at least 10 are dead and dozens wounded. Video images of the young victims – the dead, dying and severely…

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